This invention is a CIP of application Ser. No. 11/255,422. It discloses means for improved hand control and display of visual data for palm-held devices such as cellular phones, compasses, GPS devices.
Prior art informs practitioners on three primary objectives in improving the means of holding and operating hand held devices: to improve the ergonomics of using small devices, to increase usage by lessening unintended manipulation of device controls and functions, to increase the functionality of digital devices.
US Patent Application 20020099894 to Kehoe et al. published Jul. 25, 2002 teaches improvements in the functionality and ergonomics of hand held personal digital assistant devices by improving their stability and access to hand grasp when the device is resting on flat surfaces.
These improvements being the modification of the forward edge of PDA to form a resting stand with additional lateral extension supports to said stand and a wrist strap for the user.
US Application 20030021084 to Cho et al. published on Jan. 30, 2003 teaches on the use of a stand structure to hold a digital device, in this case a wireless LAN adapter. The disclosed stand improves functionality by allowing for rotational movements of the adapter for improved signal transmission within a computer network.
US Application 20050086410 to Landron et al. published on Apr. 21, 2005 discloses an adapter unit that “adds functionality and ruggedness to a commercially designed device for use in an industrial environment” by designing a housing for the digital device, PDA, which can be detachably secured to said hand held computer. The device being useable inside of or removed from its housing.
US Application 20030116631 to Salvato et al. published on Jun. 26, 2003 discloses an adapter unit for a personal digital assistant having an ergonomic grip. Here the adapter unit structure forms a ridge and gripping angle combination to improve hand control by helping prevent a user's fingers from slipping off the gripping surface.
US Application 20040256432 to Orenstein published on Dec. 12, 2004 disclosed an electronic device holder that teaches use of ergonomics, increased utility and increased ruggedness of a broadly applicable closed loop design; this design embodied in a body worn holder as a means of capturing the electronic device in a manner that does not suffer the limitations of holders customized to fit individual products they serve.
US Application 20050072691 to Schlansky published on Apr. 7, 2005 echoes several common prior art issues in advancing the objectives of functionality, ruggedness, and ergonomics: that a holder of electronic devices should maintain a position of easy accessibility, usability of the device when captured by the holder and when being used independent of it, useable with a range of sizes and designs of electronic products, and the need to be usable in the many locations and situations that communications devices are used in. Schlansky discloses a pair of opposed arms capable of adjustable pressure against an object. The arms forming a partial loop around a central support area a device to be held is set upon.
US Application 20020159775 to Muller published on Oct. 31, 2002 makes a disclosure on a vital usage issue for all hand held electronic devices, the effects of ambient lighting conditions on the visual display of an LCD screen. Muller's disclosure is of a focusing hood for digital cameras to shield a digital camera LCD screen from glare effects.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,745 to Wang discloses a rigid assembly holder for mobile phones which is adjustable in depth, width, and length to hold a range of phones; it is accommodative to the variety of environments mobile phones are used in and to variation in phone sizing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,164 to Quinn discloses a means of holding and supporting objects of variable size and shape such as an electric lamp or flower pot on level surfaces; a window sill application is illustrated. Disclosed is the use of a resilient cord attaching to a rigid base assembly with the resilient cord expanding to loop around objects of varying dimensions. The resilient cord connects to tabs of an upper supporting section of the base assembly applying a holding pressure on the object against the base. The base is accommodative to varying sill configurations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,744 to Richter discloses a hand-held portable telephone holder for releasably holding a hand-held portable car phone wherein two independent laterally adjustable fingers on one side of a “rigid planar body”, a first set of fingers, are opposed by two pivoting spring tension fingers on the other side, a second set of fingers. The phone is held between opposed first and second fingers; it is held against the rigid planar body by the spring tension of the pivoting fingers; variance in phone size is accommodated by the lateral adjustability of the first fingers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,697 to Dolce discloses an attachment for holding a roller skate's wheels immobile against a rigid form for pedestrian travel. “In general, the attachment comprises a base member formed to provide wheel-cups to constrain forward and rearward roll of skate wheels therein engaged, and abutting means to constrain lateral motion of said wheels. Removably securing means are provided to hold the base member in close and firm relation to the wheels, hence to the skate and to the shoe onto which the skate is mounted.”
Prior art illustrates diverse means for holding hand-held and other objects to a rigid support for improved stability of grip, improved stability on surfaces, improved manipulation and usage, and improved safety.
No found art teaches the combining of a demountable bracket assembly to the rigid component of a holding device; the bracket assembly being means of complementing the secured device's functions by addition of performance enhancing rods: rods that align items in the space above the secured object such as lenses above a device's screen—lenses that may be prescription, glare screens and filters, tools that are used with the secured device, etc.
No found art employed the combination of slip-resistant, resiliently deformable materials adhered to a rigid platform with means of applying downward pressure onto this material; thereby, the contours of a palm-held device's form are pressed down into the resilient material preventing the device from movement in any direction. Slip-resistant, resiliently deformable material attached to the hand grip's bottom surface holds the hand grip stable on any flat surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,037 to Del Frari discloses demountable pliable, weight bearing rods connecting to rigid forms. This art is relevant to this CIP application and is advanced by it.
Claims to U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,037 identify a set of components that construct and configure weight bearing rods of variable pliability that attach to and release from rigid forms; the set: an independent demountable frame assembly with a plurality of sockets, a plurality of embedded seats and apertures for fasteners, a plurality of sills; slideable and pivoting couplings; brackets; cul-de-sac and other forms of cut-outs; fixed angle bends; rods of variable pliability—rods that may be steel; rods assembled of concentric laminations with a means of manufacturing rods of different pliability, rods with variable exterior surface qualities.